Quote 13
I didn’t know what to do or say. In a matter of seconds it seemed, I had gone from being angered by her strength, to being amazed by her innocence, and then frightened by her vulnerability. And now I felt numb, strangely weak, as if someone had unplugged me and the current running through me had stopped. (III.2.123)
In one moment Waverly realizes that her mom is just a simple human being, leading Waverly to feel a ridiculous amount of different emotions towards her mother. It’s also important to notice that Waverly feels scared when she sees vulnerability in her mother; though she gets angry and frustrated with her mom, it’s somehow important that her mother should be invulnerable.
Quote 14
I saw what I had been fighting for: It was for me, a scared child, who had run away long ago to what I had imagined was a safer place. And hiding in this place, behind my invisible barriers, I knew what lay on the other side: Her side attacks. Her secret weapons. Her uncanny ability to find my weakest spots. But in the brief instant that I had peered over the barriers I could finally see what was there: an old woman, a wok for her armor, a knitting needle for her sword, getting a little crabby as she waited patiently for her daughter to invite her in. (III.2.164)
Waverly finally realizes that the enemy she has been fighting all her life is hardly an enemy, but a mother who simply cares for her daughter.
Quote 15
"Don’t be so old-fashioned, Ma," she told me, finishing her coffee down the sink. "I’m my own person."
And I think, How can she be her own person? When did I give her up? (IV.3.12)
Lindo still feels a proprietary claim over her daughter, and that her daughter is still a part of her.